So this is about the last major horror franchise that I've never made it all the way through. Freddy and I have been friends for a long time. I watched all of the Jason movies last year. I've suffered through the Leprechaun movies (even Back2ThaHood). I've seen most of the great Universal flicks and I have plans to watch a few Hammer ones this year as well. So Michael Myers is about the last villain standing.
Halloween, of course, is a classic. It's good in a lot of ways. Carpenter's masterpiece of horror, that basically ushered in the slasher flicks of the 80s, really can't be beat as far as movies about a masked guy that slowly lumbers towards his victims goes. The best thing about the characters in this flick is that you kind of actually believe that they'd fall victim to this heap of stabbing anger. Jamie Lee only gets away because she has an ounce of brains and 10 seconds of warning.
Halloween II is just a sequel. It doesn't really offer anything to the mythos except more proof that Myers simply cannot be killed and that Laurie Strode is actually related to him. This kind of establishes motive, which really just makes the whole thing less scary. In the first flick it seemed like if you were anywhere in Myers' vacinity, you were in trouble. But it turns out that if you're not related to him or a friend of one of his relatives, you're probably okay. Then 'ol Loomis blows himself and Michael all to hell and ends the story forever by killing off the most interesting people in the movies. Forever!
Then they tried Halloween III. Oh lord, what a misfire. The creative team behind the Halloween series, still lead by Carpenter, had the bright idea that they should just do a different, independent Halloween themed movie every year and just call them all Halloween. Their first try at this concept, which might have worked out if they had just started it with the second installment, was a jumbled tale of a mask maker's attempt to kill a generation of trick or treaters with future/stonehenge technology and robot henchmen. And it's called Season of the Witch. (I shit you not, no mention of Myers except for the original Halloween being shown on the TV). This flick has some nice moments but it definitely falls into the late-second-act slump harder than any horror movie I've ever seen. (The first act is interesting as they are setting up characters and the scary situation. Then in the second act, everyone moves really slowly and meanders around trying to figure out what to do for WAY too long, Then the third act finally pics up again and gets to it.) EIGHT MORE DAYS TILL HALLOWEEN... SILLLL-VER SHAMROCK!
Halloween 4 finally gets into new territory for me. From this point on, I haven't seen any of the lesser sequels. I was pretty pleasantly surprised by this one. There are decent characters, including the return of both Myers AND Loomis, and the filmmaking picks up the pace, body count and scope of the situation. The one huge thing that stuck out to me in this flick is what horrible assholes all the people in this small, tragedy stricken town are. They have absolutely zero sympathy for the folks involved with the slaughter that happened in their town only ten years prior, even going so far as to tease a guilt stricken youth about being an orphan and trying to satisfy their own hormones in stead of being wary of the deadly anniversary that is upon them. The only dudes that really try and go above and beyond in order to save some lives are the town drunks, and, of course, that doesn't end well. The end of this flick is actually pretty good AND makes a viewer eager to see the next installment... which I will, very soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment